Property in Romania Legal Aspects Will my Romanian lawyer make all the checks that my solicitor would do if I were buying property?

Will my Romanian lawyer make all the checks that my solicitor would do if I were buying property?

Probably not, since some of the matters commonly searched against by UK solicitors are not relevant in Romania or because there is no practical system allowing such searches to be made. Examples of the former are common land searches and searches for chancel repair liability – there is no equivalent of these under Romanian law (“commons” with assorted animals on them do exist but such lands are normally owned by the relevant local authority – see question 4). Examples of the latter are coal mining and brine extraction searches. Mining has taken place in parts of Romania but we are not aware that there is any authority responsible for confirming that a property is or is not located in such an area. In other cases, searches can theoretically be made but, so far as we are aware, are often not bothered with in practice An example of this relates to environmental matters: a prospective purchaser can apply to the relevant Environmental Authority for details of information held on a particular piece of property. This situation may be explained by the fact that the Authority has thirty days to give a reply which may or may not prove to be helpful. In such circumstances where there is concern as to possible environmental problems, a purchaser should consider arranging for a private environmental survey. There are also some searches which one would not expect to undertake in the UK, but which can be made in Romania. For example, in Bucharest there is a register of buildings which are considered to be at significant risk in an earthquake.

 

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